Page:Katha sarit sagara, vol2.djvu/508

 Then queen Avnntivatí and king Pálaka, his parents, having heard that, were for a long time quite bewildered. The queen said, " How comes it that our son, though horn in a royal family, has fallen in love with a girl of the lowest * caste?" Then king Pálaka said, ' Since the heart of our on is thus inclined, it is clear that she is really a girl of another caste, who for some reason or other has fallen among the Mátangas. The minds of the good tell them by inclination or aversion what to do and what to avoid. In illustration of this, queen, listen to the following tale, if you have not already heard it."

Story of the young Chandála who married the daughter of king Prasenajit. † :— Long ago king Prasenajit, in a city named Supratishțhita, had a very beautiful daughter named Kurangí. Oneday she went out into the garden, and an elephant, that had broken from its fastenings, charged her, and flung her up on his tusks litter and all. Her attendants dispersed shrieking, but a young Chandála snatched up a sword and ran towards the elephant. The brave fellow cut off the trunk of that great elephant with a sword-stroke, and killed it, and so delivered the princess. Then her retinue came together again, and she returned to her palace with her heart captivated by the great courage and striking good looks of the young Chandála. And she remained in a state of despondency at being separated from him, saying to herself, " Either I must have that man who delivered me from the elephant for a husband, or I must die." The young Chandála, for his part, went home slowly, and having his mind captivated by the princess, was tortured by thinking on her. He Said to himself, " What a vast gulf is fixed between me, a man of the lowest caste, and that princess ! How can a crow and a female swan ever unite? The idea is so ridiculous that I cannot mention it or consider it, So, in this difficulty, death is my only resource." After the young man had gone through these reflections, he went at night to the cemetery, and bathed, and made a pyre, and lighting the flame thus prayed to it, " thou purifying fire, Soul of the Universe, may that princess be my wife hereafter in a future birth, in virtue of this offering up of myself as a sacrifice to thee I " When he had said this, he prepared to fling himself into the fire, but the Fire-god, pleased with him, appeared in visible shape before him, and said to him, " Do not act rashly, for she shall be thy wife, for thou art not a Chandála by birth, and what thou art I will tell thee, listen !